Daily Archives: March 2, 2014

Hina Matsuri is a festival for girls, celebrated in homes throughout Japan since the Edo Period (1600-1867). A set of 10 to 15 dolls (or hina), usually family heirlooms from various generations, is displayed on a stand covered with red cloth. Dressed in elaborate silk costumes, the dolls represent the emperor and empress, court ministers, and servants. In parts of Tottori Prefecture, girls make boats of straw, place a pair of paper dolls in them and set them afloat on the Mochigase River. The custom dates back to ancient times when dolls were used as talismans to exorcize evil. More…Discuss

It has been a bitter mortification for me to digest the conclusion that the ‘race is for the strong’ and that I shall probably do little more but be content to admire the strides others made in science.

Considered one of the finest female athletes in history, Joyner-Kersee is an Americantrack and field star. She medaled at four consecutive Summer Olympics, taking home a total of three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. She won gold in the 1988 Olympic heptathlon and repeated this feat in 1992, becoming the first heptathlete ever to have consecutive Olympic wins. She is also the first heptathlon competitor ever to top 7,000 points. Who is the current heptathlon world record holder? More…Discuss

Researchers say that more than a quarter of first-timemiscarriages are preventable and could be avoided if women made certain lifestyle changes. Heavy lifting,obesity, being underweight, alcohol consumption, and working night shifts during pregnancy were all found to be factors that elevate miscarriage risk. Age was also found to be a factor, with women in their mid-30s and above more likely to lose a pregnancy. It is important not only for individual women to be aware of these risks but also for policymakers and employers to know of them and help pregnant women avoid them whenever possible. More…Discuss

A geisha is a traditional Japanese artist-entertainer skilled at conversation, singing, and dancing. The geisha system likely originated in the 17th century to provide a class of well-trained entertainers separate from courtesans and prostitutes. Even though geisha are usually women, the first ones were actually men. The numbers of geisha have declined from some 80,000 in the 1920s to a few thousand today. Why did geisha often paint their teeth black as part of their formal make-up? More…Discuss

The original Mussorgsky score (1867) and not the Rimsky Korsakov one (1886).

From wikipedia:Night on Bald Mountain is a composition by Modest Mussorgsky that exists in, at least, two versions—a seldom performed 1867 version or a later (1886) and very popular “fantasy for orchestra” arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, A Night on the Bare Mountain (Ночь на лысой горе, Noch’ na lysoy gorye), based on the vocal score of the “Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad” (1880) from The Fair at Sorochyntsi with some revisions, most notably the omission of the choir.[citation needed] There is also a version orchestrated by twentieth-century conductor Leopold Stokowski; this is the version used in the now-classic 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia.

Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky made a witches’ sabbath the theme of the original tone poem, completed on 23 June 1867 (St. John’s Eve). St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “musical picture” Sadko (also composed in 1867) share the distinction of being the first tone poems by Russian composers.

As with so much of Mussorgsky’s music, the work had a tortuous compositional history and was arranged after his death in 1881 by his friend and fellow member of The Mighty Handful Rimsky-Korsakov. It was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky’s lifetime.[2] The Rimsky-Korsakov edition premiered in 1886, and has become a concert favorite.

Setting:Russian legend tells of a witches’ sabbath taking place on St. John’s Night (June 23–24) on the Lysa Hora (Bald Mountain), near Kiev.

More details and a variation to this program may be found in a letter written by the composer to Vladimir Nikolsky: “So far as my memory doesn’t deceive me, the witches used to gather on this mountain, gossip, play tricks and await their chief — Satan. On his arrival they, i.e. the witches, formed a circle round the throne on which he sat, in the form of a kid, and sang his praise. When Satan was worked up into a sufficient passion by the witches’ praises, he gave the command for the sabbath, in which he chose for himself the witches who caught his fancy. –So this is what I’ve done. At the head of my score I’ve put its content: 1. Assembly of the witches, their talk and gossip; 2. Satan’s journey; 3. Obscene praises of Satan; and 4. Sabbath… The form and character of the composition are both Russian and original”.

Joseph Boulogne (1745 – 1799) was the son of a French aristocrat and an African slave woman. He is considered to be one of the first composers to write music in the western tradition with African ancestry. Here is part of a ballet he wrote in 1780. Performed by Tafelmusik Orchestra conducted by Jeanne Lamon.